The Toyota MR2 was a product of a different time, one that many enthusiasts want to go back to. This is an affordable and reliable Toyota, but with its engine in the middle and bolted to a seriously attractive and sporty car. Sure, Toyota’s been having lots of fun lately, but how cool would it be if the MR2 came back?
This morning, Matt wrote about how Waymo and Toyota are collaborating on driverless cars. NC Miata NA:
Tesla definitely knows more about robot taxis than anyone and they say the optimal vehicle shape for that purpose is the 2 seat coupe. By this infallible logic, the most perfect Toyota for Waymo is the MR2.
Brilliant!
This morning, Jason wrote about the countless people who have apparently mixed up Honda’s old CVCC badges for Civic badges. Brandon Forbes:
Weird. I always thought it meant they were 105cc engines.
Jason also wrote about a really neat mountain goat of a Citroën 2CV. The Drunken Wrench:
The car is literally named “To Climb Verticals”. What did you think 2CV stood for?
Pat Rich with an insightful comment:
We’ve neglected articulation for traction control in modern cars. This shows that while they are both effective, flex lets you do more with less.
I love it when readers create their profiles around owning a certain car. I was the Smart Fortwo person at the old site, Bob was the guy with the BMW 850i, and we even have a Viper guy here. Today, Mark wrote a Shitbox Showdown involving a Chevy Cavalier facing off against a Chevy Captiva. That Guy with the Sunbird:
Gee. Which one will I choose?
Yes, even Cavaliers need some love!
GM 6.2-liter V8s aren’t having a good time right now. Maybe Andy Individual can help with some fresh marketing:
Hasn’t GM learned anything? Now they are deactivating all 8 cylinders?
Griznant:
V8-6-4-0
Have a great evening, everyone!
(Topshot: Toyota)
As long as the MR2 looked better than the last model (it was ugly and not even open for debate) and had a trunk that could hold more than a small briefcase, then I’m all for it.
A buddy of mine recently bought his third first-gen MR2 and is in the process of restoring it (I just drove him home from him dropping the car off at a shop way out in the San Gabriel Valley that will remove the engine, fix everything, paint the engine bay, and put it back together). MR2 drivers love their rides as much as Miata owners do. 🙂
Thanks for the shoutout!
(Spoiler alert: I chose the Cavalier.) 🙂
Woo! Just like that 2CV, my COTD mentions are climbing to new heights!
Toyota’s new roadster will be a MrE
Shortened for Midship Roundabout 2,71828182845904523536028747135266249775724709369995…-Seater, I suppose?
I bet less than 20% of readers get this post. Upvoted.
Some people might think the Hitchhiker’s Guide comments on yesterday’s COTD article were peak nerd. But hear you are, just blowing them out of the water. 🙂
I see what you did there 😛
Bz0roof
Short for ‘Motor ready to Explode’? Isn’t that more of a GM thing lately?
I am an MR2 man myself! There are dozens of us! Dozens!
I’ve owned at least one of each MR2.
My dream is that Toyota collaborate with Lotus for the mk4 MR2/S4 Elise.
Hear me out – take the front suspension, engine, and transmission of the E210 Corolla, flip it around, put it in the back, and mate it up to the front suspension and steering column of the XP210 Yaris and enclose the whole thing in a new plastic body, its worked before.
If you flip the engine and transmission around you end up with a lot of reverse gears…
Hear me out – GR86, remove the engine and transmission to make a nice big frunk, drop the GR Yaris engine where the rear seats are.
They could do it with minimal bodywork changes, just some intakes where the rear side windows are and a new trunk lid with vents to let the hot air out. New rear floor and add a bulkhead in front of the engine. They could have a prototype built in a month.
I’m pretty sure you have to move the engine up or down to change the spark plugs in the GR. The frunk may not be that big.
I’ve got a GT86, and with the engine out the frunk would be bigger than the nice big one my mk2 MR2 had.
It’s the flat four layout that makes spark plug access difficult: it’s a very wide engine and the plugs have to unscrew from the sides.
When my motor blew at 35k miles, I was relieved that someone else would be changing the spark plugs.
Alternatively, put in the back the hybrid V6 of the Lexus TX 550h+ with its 18.1 kWh battery, put in the front the 150 kW electric motor of the RZ 450e or the bZ4X, mount both to a steel tube light chassis doubling as safety cage and call it the MR4.
Then add rear-facing seats, Janus-style.
Now you have a supercar.
If it was roughly Janus-sized in terms of width, ended up under 2,500 lbs, and was mass produced to keep costs under $50k, I’d be in line to buy it.
I’m afraid most TNGA platforms generally tend to be on the wider side…
The TX’s width at 78.3 inches is just one centimeter short of two meters, decidedly into supercar territory (which I wouldn’t personally mind).
The Zundapp, the motorcycle, or the Roman god of entryways?
Zundapp
Congrats, you just invented the Toyota Fiero.
“we even have a Viper guy here”
Gotta watch out for those types.
Triton Econoline E-350 right?
Vipers make excellent pets.
https://i.imgur.com/31rYo2C.jpg
Zey’ll vipe your vindows vithout asking! Zee Viper!
So other than roads, sewers, the aqueduct, and the Honda 105cc, what have the Romans ever done for us?!
I dunno, maybe we should ask the People’s Front of Hondea? (Not to be confused with the Hondean People’s Front).
SPLITTERS!
Leaded water for the citizens, leaded fuel for the old Hondas.